Tennis: Bonin, Strasburger take different roads to Boulder Open wins

DU grad rolls, CSU alum battles for title

On a sleepy, overcast Sunday at the Boulder Open, Brandon Lupo broke the morning silence with yells of frustration. Quite often, in fact, and justifiably so.

Down 5-0 in the first set of the men's open singles championship, having won fewer than five points in the match, Lupo challenged himself.

"Make him work, at least," he could be heard saying after making one of many unforced errors into the net.

But Lupo never had a chance. On Sunday, nothing could stop Enej Bonin.

A recent University of Denver graduate, Bonin made quick work of Lupo, winning a 6-0, 6-0 blowout that took about 45 minutes and was over as soon as it began. In the women's open singles final, Lauren Strasburger delivered some clutch holds at the end of both sets to edge Winde Janssens, 7-5, 6-4.

Bonin, DU's No. 1 singles player for the past three seasons, allowed Lupo to win as many as two points in a game only once. With soft, perfectly-placed volleys woven in with powerful groundstrokes, Bonin never let up. An overpowered Lupo won only one point in the first three games and audibly revealed his frustration as early as the second game.

"He came out not ready, unfortunately ... I thought it was going to be a tough match," Bonin said. "It ended up kind of easy. He missed a lot. I actually played really well."

Everything was going right for Bonin, but perhaps his crowning jewel Sunday was his serve.

"I think I served just a few second serves the whole match," Bonin said. "It was pretty much straight first serves. So I served very well, very easy holds.

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"I have a feeling (that) as long as I keep (serving like) that, I'm going to keep on winning. I don't really take away much from this match, since it was (easier). Improved just a little bit."

Strasburger and Janssens struggled in a women's final that was a polar opposite of Bonin's rout. Running each other all over the court and mixing spins often, the two women battled for twice as long as Bonin and Lupo.

Strasburger was mired in a 5-5 deadlock in the first set, but took advantage of a double fault by Janssens to break for the 6-5 lead. She then held serve to take the first set.

The end of the second half was almost a mirror image of the first. With the score 4-4, Strasburger once again broke Janssens. Serving for the match, Strasburger came back from a 15-40 deficit to win after two deuces.

The 26-year-old Strasburger played as high as No. 1 singles at Colorado State University before graduating in 2009. She now works as a tennis coach, and the Boulder Open offered her a chance to once again play competitively.

"Most of the time I teach tennis ... at Gates Tennis Center in Denver. So usually I'm hanging with really good 13-year-olds," Strasburger said. "This is a little bit different."

Both Bonin and Strasburger plan to play in September's Colorado State Open.

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